The Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023

• Citation: S.I. 2023/559
• Sections: 7

Section 1 Citation, commencement and extent

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023.

(2) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

(3) These Regulations come into force on 26th June 2023.

Section 2 Special procedures for community and suspended sentence orders

A community order or suspended sentence order qualifies for special procedures for the purposes of a relevant provision if the following four conditions are met.

Section 3 Special procedures for community and suspended sentence orders

The first condition is that the proposed order is made within the period beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and ending with 31st March 2029 .

Section 4

The second condition is that the court making the order is—

(a) Birmingham Magistrates’ Court,

(b) the Crown Court sitting at Liverpool, or

(c) the Crown Court sitting at Teesside Combined Court Centre.

Section 5

The third condition is that the person who is to be subject to the order is—

(a) a person aged 18 or over at the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates,

(b) where the order is made by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, a female person, and

(c) not a relevant offender as defined at section 80(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 at the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates.

Section 6

Subject to regulation 7 the fourth condition is that none of the offences to which the proposed order relates is—

(a) an offence under section 1 or section 1A of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 ,

(b) an offence under Part 1 of the Firearms Act 1968 ,

(c) an offence under section 139, section 139A, section 139AA, section 141 or section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 ,

(d) an offence under section 6 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 , or

(e) an offence listed in paragraphs 1 to 35C of Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 .

Section 7

But the fourth condition will be met where—

(a) any of the offences to which the order is to relate is an offence under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 or section 139 or 139A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988,

(b) the person who is to be subject to the order has not previously been convicted of an offence mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) of regulation 6, and

(c) the person who is to be subject to the order has not, before the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates, been convicted of an offence mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this regulation.